Long Sands Beach, York, Maine, SSE to SE, windy!, 6.2/ Acid 94 then 5.2/Realwind 85, solo
Dialed in and under- I know it's been a good session when I lean over to derig and a waterfall comes out of my sinuses. It means I went thru the washing machine at least once. Waves, courtesy of Hurricane Bertha, were about chest high with some maybe a little bigger, very nice! I definitely felt the adrenaline kick in at times. My equipment seemed just right for the conditions, for once. Lifeguard Encounter- This beach has a surfing area, marked by two large red flags, (only until 4:30). I stayed out for about an hour straight for my first session, being careful to stay in the surfing zone or out in deep water. When I finally came in to rest, a lifeguard was waiting for me. I thought that I must have broken some rule or endangered somebody's children. But he only wanted to tell me that he liked one of my jumps, and that he used to see windsurfers here all the time when he was a kid but now he never does. I guess I was something of a curiosity. A genuine antique windsurfer.  Beach Notes- Frigid water! I used my drysuit on this 80 degree day. I talked to a surfer who said that, even with her wetsuit, she got so cold that her muscles refused to work. It was a nice launch with sideshore wind, I think S or SSE?, then it went more onshore, SE?, and it was harder to get out thru the waves. At low tide the beach would be a dream for landboarding. At high tide there is no beach. Parking was a nightmare on such a beautiful, hot, summer day. It took me a long time to find a spot. Bring lots of quarters, they check the meters, even on Sunday. The drive was a little under 1 1/2 hours, no weekend backups.Bottom photo- Cape Neddick Light, up close. |
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8 comments:
Good report. I'm one of those windsurfers the lifeguard saw there when he was a kid. We had a place there in the 70's. Everyone talks about how cold the water is, too.
Robert,
York seems like a beautiful area! It must have been nice having a house there. By the way, I like your web page about the Minot lighthouse. I wonder if it's possible to windsurf out to it, or whether the rocks are too close to the surface.
Love the spot! Love the pics on your blog too!!!
All I know about the Minot area would be that there was terrible loss of life with wooden ships before they put the light up. Nantasket is a much better Wsing area so I doubt if anyone has tried it at Minot. However, Cohasset has a large bay that faces the light so I imagine you could sail out of the Harbor and approach the light house without taking too big a risk.
Adding a little here. It would be much better to sail Cohasset at high tide, both due to the rocky coast and the shallow bay. We didn't have a house in York, but a summer trailer permanently placed in a trailer park at Short Sands. I didn't windsurf there until after the trailer was sold, though. I also can hardly remember it, but I did sail a dingy off Long Sands in '73.
I found Minot's Ledge Light on Google Earth. It's over a mile from the nearest land and it looks like there are some rocky areas to watch out for. It might not be the best for easy picture taking but it is probably still worth exploring. Actually, I think the biggest problem might be finding a place to park and launch near it. I'll check it out one of these days. Maybe I can launch from Sandy Beach in outer Cohasset, on Atlantic Ave, 2.4 miles to the lighthouse, or from the harbor as you said. It could be a good adventure on a light NW wind day.
Last night while continuing my read of Thoreau's Cape Cod, I took out the zerox of a chart of the area I have kept in the book. There are a few rocks out there that are covered at high tide and exposed at low. Grampus rock is the largest. It is in plain view from the closest point I viewed the lighthouse. I followed the directions Thoreau gave for his walk i.e. following in his footsteps. The Yatch club has some grassy lawns and they might allow you to rig and sail from there. Atlantic Ave leads out to some interesting places from which to view the lighthouse, but much of the shoreline is rocky. However, there's plenty of open land. It was rather surprising to find a dirt road there, too, as most of the houses are large and impressive. I you are going, it's best to do it after Labor Day as the lighthouse has become a tourist attraction.
Great work.
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